Sick Doggy Days
by SirenShiera
Summary: When Joshua gets sick Max has to trust a Doctor to help treat him, but this Doctor has a dark and mysterious past, one Alec, Max and Logan need to uncover if they are to keep all their transgenic brethren safe….
1. Chapter 1

This takes place in season 2, after episode 3: Proof of Purchase. Hope you enjoy and Thanks for reading ^_^

Siren Shiera

Disclaimer: I own Shara but none of the rest.

Max had felt that something was wrong that morning when she had been getting ready for work. She always had these gut feelings when something bad was about to happen. She waited for that page from Logan that was bound to come with whatever it was that was going to happen, but he didn't beep her. She had already made her first delivery of the day and still nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As she sat down on the bench in front of her locker for a five minute break, that Normal would no doubt comment on any second now, Max began to think that she was worried over nothing.

"What up Boo? Not used to getting to work on time?" OC asked as she sat beside her. Max laughed, she knew that OC had been covering for her the last few weeks, she was so grateful that OC was such a fast thinking, inventive person, what would she have done without her the last few months?

"Funny, no I just have this feeling." Max said as she rooted though her bag.

"And what, pray tell might this feeling be?"

"I dunno, like something bad is gonna to happen." Max said with a shrug.

"Sugar, you worry way too much, take this for what it is, a break from _your_ norm"

"Yea, you're probably right."

The rest of the day was fairly normal, mundane even. Max actually enjoyed days like these, days where she could forget that she was a genetically engineered super solder, and feel like she was just a regular girl. When Normal finally announced the last run of the day and she managed to slip out without having to do a last run she was feeling completely satisfied with her day. She was considering going to Logan's but thought better of it. With all the complications in their relationship and the frustrations that went with it, she'd more than likely only ended up depressed and after such a good day she didn't want that to happen, besides a little break would do Logan and her some good, it was better to keep the distance. Max decided to head to Joshua's. She hadn't been able to see him much the last few days and she figured he must be low on food. She felt slightly guilty about not visiting him much, but with all her Manticore cousins lose in the world she was finding her hands full.

* * *

"Hey Big Fella!" Max called as she opened his back door. She was surprised that he made no response, normally her canine friend was thrilled to have company. She threw the groceries she had picked up for him on the table and walked into Joshua's makeshift living room.

"Joshua?" She called him again. 'Maybe he's painting in the basement.' she thought to herself as she headed down the stairs.

"Joshua you down here?" Max looked around, the basement was filled with an odd collection of things all stacked and piled haphazardly. Max started to get that bad feeling again when she didn't instantly see her tall friend, even in this mess, she should be able to find easily.

"Joshua?" she called 'Please don't tell you went outside again.' She added silently to herself. Max's mind was running though various bad outcomes to Joshua heading outside alone when she heard a faint groaning sound. She was able to identify its origin easily with her sharp hearing. It was then she noticed a huddled form lying in the dark shadows in the corner.

"Joshua!" Max rushed to his side "Oh my god! What's wrong?" Max asked him frantically as she rolled him over so she could see his face.

"Sssssiiicccck." was all he groaned in answer to her.

"It's ok Big Fella, I'll get you help." She told him confidently.

"Maaaaaxx Heelllpp." Joshua always had such faith in her. Whatever automatic response she was about to give caught in her throat, she should have gone to see him sooner, and maybe he might not have gotten so bad. Max took a second to lay him as comfortably on the floor as she could before she left him to find a phone. He needed a doctor, but who could they turn to? There was no way that she could pass Joshua off as a regular human. Max raced to the nearest pay phone, Logan might know someone that they could trust.

"Logan" his familiar voice answered after the second ring.

"Logan it's me, I need some help." Max knew that she should be calmer but her guilt was making her panic slightly.

"Max what's wrong?"

"It's Joshua, he's sick. He needs a doctor."

"How bad is he?" Max knew that Logan was wracking his brain for people who could be of help.

"He's bad Logan and I don't think that the doc's in the emergency room will fail to notice his modified DNA."

"Right, I think I know someone who we can trust. She's a doctor that worked with 'Eye's Only' a few years back."

"Does she know about Manticore and transgenic's?" Max thought that if she did surely she would already know her.

"We've never discussed it openly but she gave me a call a few weeks back, I think she was fishing for information on you and yours but without really saying anything. Anyway I think she's our best chance. I call her and bring her to Joshua's."

"Are you sure about this?" Max trusted Logan, but this seemed risky.

"At the very least she owes me a favour, she'll help us, I'll get there as soon as I can."

"Thanks Logan." Max hung up the phone and hurried back to Joshua's. She didn't move him, not being sure that it was safe. He had a fever and moaned at the slightest touch. Max knew that sometimes if a transgenic's cocktail was off by the slightest bit that the genetic structure can breakdown, she prayed that that wasn't what was wrong with him. It couldn't have taken Logan more than 30 minutes to get there, but it felt like an eternity to Max.

"Max?" He called from upstairs.

"We're down here!" she called not wanting to leave Joshua's side.

"Max," Logan said as he came down the stairs to her, a woman not much older than Max hot on his heels "This is Shara." Max looked this young woman up and down, there was no way that she was a proper doctor; she would have been like 12 when she went to med school. Max was starting to panic a little more.

"You must be Max," Shara said calmly as she made her way towards them. Max was watching to see her reaction when she saw Joshua. "And this is Joshua." Shara said as she reached Max. Shara looked around Max and caught her first glimpse of Joshua. Her eyes widened in surprise. 'Here it comes.' Max thought to herself.

"You could have mentioned that he was a transgenic." Shara said calmly to Logan as she knelt beside Max.

"You didn't tell her!" Max turned to look at Logan who was standing behind her.

"I was afraid she wouldn't come." Logan explained as he looked down at Joshua, his face showed the worry that Max felt, "Sorry Shara I couldn't take the risk, I wasn't even sure you knew about transgenics." Shara didn't respond, she seemed busy looking over Joshua. Max stood up to give her more room. All Max could do was watch; she hated not being able to do something to help him.

"Can he talk?" Shara asked as she checked his pulse.

"Of course he can talk." Max knew she shouldn't snap at the women, but she wasn't at her best.

"I know," Shara said calmly, seemingly unoffended "I mean has he been too sick to talk to you."

"Oh," Max suddenly felt a little childish "He talked a little bit, but his speech was a little slurred."

"Joshua can you hear me?" Shara asked him. Joshua groaned but made no understandable response. After a few more moments Shara stood up.

"I need to make a call." She told them

"Use my cell phone." Logan said as his fished around in his pockets for his phone.

"Who are you calling?" Max asked her, she always had to be careful when it came to people she didn't know and her transgenic brethren.

"I'm only qualified to treat 50% of him, I have a friend who's a vet, I want to run a few things past him, make sure that we do things right." Shara told her honestly as she took the phone from Logan.

"Can we trust your vet friend?" Max hated having to interrogate the woman, but better safe than sorry, she could almost feel Logan glare at her.

"He's the one who first told me about transgenics, he's safe."

"Sorry." Max apologized for what she knew must seem like ungrateful behaviour.

"Don't be, I'd ask the same questions." Shara said with a gentle smile as she walked away slightly to make her call. Max knelt beside Joshua again.

"Hang in there Big Fella." She doubted that he could hear her, but she wanted to tell him all the same.

"Shara's a talented doctor, he'll be ok Max." Logan said comfortingly.

"OK, I think we figured out what's wrong with him," Shara said as she rejoined them a few moments later "Mick's got some medication he thinks should do the trick, but someone's gonna have to go get it though."

"I'll get a friend to pick it up, just let me know where." Max said as she took the cell phone off Shara. Once she had the address, Max headed upstairs to make the call. She could get the medicine herself, but she didn't want to leave Joshua. Alec was her best option, after all the crap he'd pulled lately it was the least he could do for Joshua, she just hoped he would actually come through for once. Alec complained as was expected, but eventually decided to help, after Max threatened to kick his ass again. Max went straight back to Joshua.

"Well?" Logan asked her as she handed back his phone.

"Luckily Alec wasn't too far away from sector 6, it shouldn't take him long to get here." Logan smiled reassuringly at her, but she knew that he was thinking the same thing as her, Alec had better not screw this one up.

"I've made him as comfortable as I can." Shara told them as she joined them. They all stood a bit away from Joshua, making sure that their conversation won't disturb him.

"Is it safe to move him somewhere more comfortable?" Max couldn't imagine that the basement was the best place for him.

"No, not until he's a bit more stable."

"How bad is it?" Max wanted to know exactly what the situation was.

"I won't lie to you. He's very ill, the next couple of hours will tell." Max appreciated her honestly.

"What's wrong with him?" Logan asked when Max was silent.

"Well my guess is that back at Manticore he wasn't exposed to a lot of regular infections that are common to canine's so he never built up any immunities, but living in the city with its abundance of strays…" Max nodded, they hadn't thought that would happen "What I can't figure out is why his immune system didn't protect him, most of the transgenics I've met have had strong immune systems, that doesn't appear to be the case with Joshua." Shara said thinking out loud as she looked over at the silent form on the floor.

"Joshua was the first," Max said quietly, almost without thinking, "Maybe Sandeman didn't have the perfect cocktail for him." Shara nodded, but didn't answer her.

* * *

Alec actually made good time getting to Joshua's. He was actually kinda worried about the big guy, not that he would ever admit that. He walked into the house casually, like nothing was wrong. Max raced up the stairs and had reached him before he had made no more than three steps inside the house.

"You get it?" she asked him, Alec had never seen her _this_ stressed.

"Hello to you too Max." Alec said in his typical manner.

"Did you get it?" Max asked him more forcibly, he knew he probably shouldn't try and antagonise her, but it just seemed to happen without him thinking about it.

"Take it easy Max" Alec said as he pulled the package from his bag "You'd swear that it was a matter of life and death." Max just glared at him as she snatched the package his out of his hand and headed down to the basement almost at a run. Alec decided to follow her and see for himself if Joshua was really that ill or was Max a typical female and being dramatic. He soon discovered that she wasn't being dramatic. He had to admit that Joshua looked rough. He was pale and almost eerily still as he lay on the floor.

"Here it is." Max said as she handed the package to a young women who was kneeling beside Joshua. Alec didn't think he knew her, but he couldn't really see her either as she had her back to him. Alec joined Logan who was leaning against a wall keeping out of the way.

"What's wrong with the dog boy?" Alec asked him.

"I'm not really sure." Logan said shortly. Alec was well aware that Logan wasn't very fond of him; Alec wasn't really worried about it, it's not his fault if Logan couldn't get over him helping Manticore to kill him.

"Are you sure it's safe to give him medication meant for animals?" Max asked the young women as she prepared an injection, clearly meant for Joshua.

"Well 50% of him is canine, and it would take a lot of this stuff to do any real damage a regular human, so it'll be fine." She told her patiently. Max always did worry too much.

"You're sure?" Max her clearly not convinced.

"Yes" the woman answered her calmly.

"Who's the chick?" Alec asked Logan. There was something vaguely familiar about her.

"Her name is Shara," Logan said pointedly "She's a Doctor friend of mine."

"Hmmmm.." Alec said, it was almost second nature to annoy Logan as well "A lot of your friends are women, Max's gotta love that." Alec said lightly.

"All we can do now is give the med's time to work." Shara said to Max "Maybe you should go get some air or something, I'll wait with Joshua." She said as she started to steer Max towards the stairs.

"No I want to stay with Joshua." Max argued.

"Look." Shara said firmly as she took hold of Max's arm and stopped her in her tracks as she headed back towards Joshua. "There is nothing you can do, he needs rest and time for the medication to work. If you stay down here, you'll only get in my way." Alec waited for Max's reaction, this should be good.

"Ok" Alec was surprised that Max didn't offer any sort of argument, that was not her normal sort of behaviour. Alec had a sort of respect of Shara if she could manage Max that easily. Logan followed Max up the stairs; he was such a good not-boyfriend. Shara turned back to Joshua, Alec recognised her face, and he had definitely seen her somewhere before, it might take him awhile, but he'd remember, he never forgot a face.

"Alec!" Max called gruffly from upstairs, Alec rolled his eyes, he had better follow her up.

* * *

Shara looked down at her new patient. She really hoped that this worked, she wasn't nearly as confident as she led Max to believe. There was no good in worrying her, there was nothing that Max could do anyway. Shara knelt beside her patient; she wondered what he looked like normally. There was a certain kindness about his face, he looked like the gentle type, something that most transgenics seemed to have lost in their training at Manticore. Shara had noticed an old leather bound book lying beside Joshua when she first arrived, she pick it up and looked at it more closely now.

"'The Count of Monte Cristo', I read this in college, I think I liked it, can't really remember, I was sorta all over the place in college." She didn't know if he could hear her, but she always felt that it helped when someone talked to people when they were ill. She opened the book to where the book mark was and started to read it to him, it gave her something to do and maybe it would comfort him a little if he could hear a voice.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own Shara but none of the rest.

Alec wasn't sure why he had stuck around for the last couple of hours, maybe it was because he couldn't remember where he knew Shara from or maybe it was because he wanted to see how Joshua was doing, either way he was bored. Logan had taken off a short while ago, to make an 'Eye's Only' broadcast or something, and Max clearly wasn't in the mood for conversation. Alec had managed to restrain himself from annoying her anymore, he knew that it wasn't really the appropriate time. Whatever had made Joshua this ill was something that they should all be concerned about. What the hell could take down a transgenic? They all have souped up immune systems. The only time that Alec had seen a transgenic sick was when there was a genetic anomaly in there DNA, and they never survived. The only other thing that came close to sick for a transgenic were the seizures and that was clearly not what was wrong with Joshua, and Alec didn't think that Joshua suffered from that particular problem anyway.

"He should have shown some improvement by now." Max said as she started to pace again. She had been up and down to the basement several times over the last three hours, every time she went down, Shara ordered her back up, Alec found the two women's interplay interesting to say the least. Shara never lost her cool and Max didn't really argue with her, a clear sign that Max was worried sick.

"Yes, but he hasn't gotten any worse." Alec told her calmly as he watched her pace back and forth in front of him. Max didn't answer him, she just huffed, showing what she thought of his opinions. Alec watched her pace for a few more minutes before it finally got to him.

"Max will you sit down, you're making me dizzy."

"Why are you here anyway?" Max demanded grumpily.

"I want to make sure that Dog boy is alright." Alec tried to make it sound as casual as possible; he had a certain carefree image to maintain.

"Yea right, a couple of weeks ago you were trying to kill him." Max snapped.

"Geez, you people really have to learn to let these things go!" Alec felt bad about that whole trying to kill Joshua/Max thing, he really did, but they really had to let it go.

"You're such a pain." Max said throw gritted teeth.

"Max." Shara interrupted, trying to get the pacing Max's attention.

"How is he?" Max asked her anxiously.

"He's better, he's awake and alert, it's a very good sign after such a short amount of time." Shara told her with a smile

"Can I go talk to him?" Max asked her hopefully.

"Sure, but not for too long and we should probably move him somewhere more suitable." Max nodded already heading downstairs.

"Where's his bed?" Shara asked Alec, looking around her.

"I'm not really sure, I don't think he has one." Alec told her, it was something he hadn't thought about.

"Well we had better make him one then." Shara said as she started taking cushions off the ragged furniture.

"Do I know you?" Alec asked her as he helped her gather suitable bedding materials.

"And why would you think that?" she asked him back.

"I never forget a face and I think I've seen yours before." Alec told her, wracking his brain for where he knew her from.

"It's Alec right?" She asked him, being clearly evasive.

"That's right and you're Shara?"

"Yea, so how could you know me, if we didn't even know each other's names?" she pointed out with a friendly smile. Maybe she wasn't being evasive after all, it was hard to tell. Alec was about to answer her when she spoke again.

"We had better move him while he's still awake." She told him as she headed off down to the basement again. Alec could tell that she was going to be a frustrating person to deal with.

Shara was glad that there were three of them when it was time to move Joshua; he was a big guy and she doubted that they would have been able to manage with just her and Max. Although when they were actually moving him, he seemed surprisingly light, she barely had to use any of her strength to left him.

"You're not as heavy as you look, that was surprisingly easy." Shara said as she helped Max settle Joshua comfortably. Max just looked at her sharply, while Alec just snickered at something. Max punched him in the arm.

"Max make Joshua better, that the plan?" Joshua asked Max.

"That's the plan," Max as she sat down beside him again.

"I'll get you some water." Shara headed for what she assumed to be the kitchen. It took her a while, but she found a cup and some water in the grocery bags.

"Here we go, Max can you give me a hand here." Max raised Joshua's head so that he could take a sip.

"Slowly now," Shara warned him. Once Joshua had taken a few sips Shara took the cup away, he needed to take these things slowly. "Ok good, get some rest now ok." Shara told him, not sure if he'd take any notice of her. Shara moved back to give them a little room. Shara smiled to herself as she watched Alec awkwardly hunch down next to Max. He was clearly unsure what to do. She knew exactly where they had met before. He was right they did know each other, well sort of. She should really have told him the truth, but for some reason she wanted to mess with his head a bit, that and she was still a little embarrassed by the incident.

* * *

Max talked quietly with Joshua for a short while before he drifted off to sleep. She was so relieved to see that he looked so much better. She made her way over to Shara; she wanted to make sure that he was out of the woods.

"So will he be alright?" Shara seemed to think the question over before she answered her.

"I think so. I think he's immune system has kicked in and along with some medications I'd say he'll make a fast recovery." Max sigh her relief, she still felt that this whole thing could have been avoid if she had been a better friend to Joshua in the first place.

"It would have come on really suddenly Max, I don't think you would have notice he was sick until he was pretty much like you found him. It's the way it is with canine's apparently, Joshua seems to have some of the weaknesses common to that species." Max nodded, she must be getting really bad at hiding her feeling is Shara was able to read her that easily.

"I think you should go home and get some rest." Shara told her in her firm authoritative voice that she seemed to use whenever she was making a suggestion to her.

"Here, here." Alec chimed in behind her.

"Yea, you do that, I'm gonna stay with Joshua." Max said stubbornly.

"I think it's best if you went home and got some rest." Shara said squaring off to Max. Max was grateful for everything that this woman had done for her, but she wasn't about to let her boss her around like that.

"I'm staying." Max informed her confidently.

"There's little point in you staying here." Shara wasn't getting angry with her, but her calm even tone was starting to grate on Max.

"I'm not about to leave Joshua here alone all night." Max was surprised that Shara would think that was a good idea, after all he was seriously ill.

"Ladies-" Alec, as usual tried to interfere.

"Shut up." Max snapped at him without taking her eyes off Shara, Alec must have sensed the danger he was in and backed off.

"Of course he won't be here alone, that's insane. I'm staying with him." Shara seemed to think that that should be obvious.

"That won't be necessary, because I'll be here." Max informed her, beginning to think that Shara seemed to think that she was somehow in charge.

"Ok, but what if something happens hmm? What if his condition takes a turn for the worse? What do you plan to do then?" Shara asked her, there was a slight edge of irritation in her voice, and for some reason that made Max feel better.

"Well I-" Max hadn't really put much thought into it, she was certainly unsure what she would do.

"Right, which is why I'm staying and your going, that way tomorrow, when he's far more stable I don't have to worry about leaving him to go back to my clinic and you'll have had a full night's sleep so you're not completely useless." Shara tone was chiding to say the least and Max was pretty sure that she deserved it. She would have been fine with it, had Alec not snickered under his breath. Max just couldn't resist landing one well placed punch to the gut, he had been asking for it all day. Alec stopped snickering; of course he also temporally stopped breathing.

"Ok, I'll be back here tomorrow. Alec will leave you his phone in case something happens."

"Wait a second." Alex interjected, but of course the fact that he was slightly bent over and leaning against a wall took away form his objection. Max decided that she couldn't be bothered reasoning with him and just took it out of his jacket pocket and simply handed it over to Shara.

"Thanks." Shara said to Alec with a sincere enough smile "I'll let you know if anything changes, but don't worry, I think I'm just being overly cautious," Max had to admit that she seemed capable and that she really didn't mind that Joshua was a transgenic. Max decided that despite the fact that they had actually argued more often than not today, that she quite liked Shara.

"Thanks for everything." Max said simply, not really sure how she could possible let this woman know just how much her kindness and help meant to them.

"Happy to do it." Was all Shara said, before she returned to Joshua. Max took one more look at Joshua before she left; she hoped that he would be more like his normal self tomorrow.

"You know Max I think that you need anger management or something." Alec said as they both walked down the front steps of Joshua's house. Max decided not to answer him, there was little point in telling him he was an ass; it never seemed to sink in, no matter how often she told him.

"So you sure it's safe to leave her alone with Joshua?" Alec asked his tone far more serious. Max looked back over her shoulder at the house.

"I trust her." She told him simply.

"Well if you say so, it's just, for all we know, she could be ringing White right now." Alec continued as Max unchained her bike.

"If she was like that, she would have let Joshua die, not saved him and from what Logan told me I don't think she's the type to work with White, but if you're worried about her, feel free to stay and watch the house." Max told him as she mounted her bike.

"You know what's funny?" Alec continued, his slightly mocking tone returning.

"What?" Max knew before he said anything that she wasn't going to like it.

"If you trust her so much, how come she doesn't know you're a transgenic too." With that little statement made Alec smiled and walked away. Max glared after him. She hated it when he did things like that. He always managed to hit a sore spot and what was even more annoying was he was completely right.

* * *

Alec received a friendlier welcome when he arrived at Joshua's the next day than he had arrived the day before.

"Alec." Joshua greeted him happily as he walked into the room. Joshua was still on the makeshift bed that Shara and he had put together, but he was sitting up and looking almost like his normal self.

"Hey Man." Alec said happy to see the dramatic change, "How you feeling?"

"Better." Joshua seemed to have acquired the habit of using as few words possible; it must because of all the time he spent with no one to talk to back at Manticore. Alec could never seem to forget exactly just what it was like down in that basement, what had been Joshua's home for the better part of his life. It seemed that no one came out of Manticore unscathed or unpolluted.

"You here alone?" Alec asked as he threw himself into a chair.

"No Max here somewhere." Joshua told him, Alec was a little disappointed, he had hoped that Shara would be there so he could talk to her more and hopefully remember where it was he knew her from.

"Oh it's you." Max said making no attempt to hide her disappointment as she walked up from the basement.

"It's me." Alec said cheerfully, it never really upset him that Max was always so hostile with him, it actually made him more comfortable with her. Hostile he understood, knew how to handle, it was when she was understanding and kind that he felt out of his depth.

"So ah…. It's just the three of us?" the second Alec said it he knew that he was being obvious, luckily Max was too busy being snippy with him to notice, and Joshua, who never missed a thing, wouldn't say anything, but Alec caught him smiling at him.

"Yup, if you're here for your cell phone, it's on the table." Max told him as she sat beside Joshua on the floor and started going through some books she had apparently brought up from the basement.

"Great." Alec decided that he should try a different approach "So Josh, you sleep alright?" Alec could see Max looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Sleep good, Shara read to me, help me sleep." Joshua told him, Alec could see that Joshua already had taken a liking to Shara, but Joshua liked everyone who talked to him.

"Above and beyond the call duty wouldn't you say Max?" Alec knew she had by now noticed that he was fishing for information.

"Whatever." She wasn't gonna help him out either.

"So she just took off this morning and left you to it huh Josh?" Alec decided that Joshua was his best option.

"She go to her Clinic, see patients." Joshua informed him.

"Aww… sounds expensive, what she charge you Max? House calls don't come cheap" Alec had wondered how Max was gonna pay for Shara's services as well as her discretion.

"She didn't ask for anything." Max told him without looking up from her stack of books, he could tell she didn't want to talk to him about Shara; it was probably because of last night.

"She'll probably send you the bill in the mail." Alec knew he was onto something when Max looked up to glare at him.

"Even though it's none of your business, she's not like that; she doesn't charge most of her patients." Max told him, with a very clear 'drop it' tone.

"What? Why?" Alec would never be able to understand these kind of people, the do'gooders of the world.

"I know it's completely beyond your ability to understand, but she wants to help people, it's called being a decent human being." Alec rolled his eyes at her.

"Typical, of course Logan would hook you up with the Robin Hood of the Medical world."

"Not quite, I don't have the whole band of merry men thing going on, draws too much attention." Shara said as she stood in the doorway behind him, how the hell she managed to sneak in without him hearing her was beyond him. He looked at her narrowly, there was something funny about her alright, something different.

"Hey Shara." Max said completely unperturbed by the stealthy doctor.

"Hey, how you feeling Joshua?" Shara said as she walked over to look at him more closely.

"Good." Joshua said smiling up at her.

"Well you look a hell of a lot better, how's the appetite?" Shara asked him as she set down her bag and checked his pulse.

"Normal." Max said sharing a smile with Joshua.

"Great, well it looks like you're pretty much recovered and, thanks to your designer DNA, in super fast time too." Shara said beaming at him "I just want to give you one more dose of antibiotics, just to be safe." Shara told him as she readied another injection.

"Bitch Virus going down, that the plan." Joshua said enthusiastically. Shara looked a bit confused, Alec couldn't help but laugh.

"Joshua man you got quite a way with words." Alec told him.

"There we go," Shara told him when she was finished injecting whatever medication Alec had had to pick up yesterday "All done, you'll need some booster shots to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. I'll pick them up tomorrow for you." Shara said as she tied up her things and put them back in her bag.

"There's no need to go to that much trouble, I can pick them up." Max told her.

"I might as well pick them up, I'll be coming here anyway to check up on my newest patient." Shara said with a smile at Joshua. She picked up the book that had been lying closed on Joshua's lap.

"Moved on from 'The Count of Monte Cristo' I see." She said as she read the books spine.

"Yea, I think you've read everything in the house Joshua." Max said as she looked at the pile of book in front of her.

"Hmm Father's books." Was all Joshua said.

"Oh these are your Father's books," Shara looking curiously at Joshua, "He has good taste."

"Yes, but all finished." Joshua said quietly, Alec wondered how he managed being stuck here all day and night with nothing to do.

"You must get pretty bored here huh? Well at least I can help you out there, I'll bring some books with me tomorrow, that should hold you over for awhile at least." Shara patted his arm and stood up to leave.

"You leaving?" Max asked her.

"Yea, got some more patients to see before I can call it a day." Shara sounded tired "I'll see you tomorrow Joshua." Shara said as she made her way to the door.

"I'll walk you out." Alec said as he followed her out. He didn't need to look back to know that Max was glaring and Joshua was smiling at him.

"You get your phone back?" Shara asked Alec as he followed her out of the house, she knew that he was still trying to figure out where he knew her from.

"Yea, so you have a lot of patients then?" Shara smiled, he was stubborn but patient, she would have just demanded an answer by now.

"Yea, unfortunately there are more people than doctors out there."

"And you're one of the very few who don't charge." He seemed curious about that particular aspect of her clinic.

"Well I can hardly charge them when I don't have a licence now can I?" Shara with a smile, that made him pause.

"Well not full price at least. How can you possible afford it?" He recovered fast. Shara laughed despite herself.

"Still wondering where you know me from huh?" Shara decided that she should help out of his misery.

"So I _do_ know you from somewhere." He said with a triumphant smile.

"I don't know, do you?" Shara said with a vacant smile, she found that acting dumb was the easiest way to throw people.

"You tell me." Alec, it seemed wasn't fooled.

"I would of course, if I thought that we knew each other." Shara said simply. Alec's eyes narrowed as he looked at her closely.

"Thanks for walking me out, see ya." Shara decided that she had toyed with him enough for one day. She looked back over her shoulder as she walk away, Alec was walking back toward Joshua's punching his hands together, Shara wasn't sure if it was because he was frustrated with her or congratulating himself because he thought he had caused her to slip up.

'Why are you making such a big deal out of this Shara, your turning it into some big secret.' she lectured herself.

* * *

Max decided to nip whatever it was that was going on with Alec and Shara in the bud, before Alec messed things up.

"Whatever your thinking Alec, don't." Max knew that subtlety was not the way to go with Alec.

"What are you talking about?" Alec seemed genuinely confused, maybe Max had picked up his behaviour wrong.

"I'm talking about whatever you're up to with Shara." Max said as she stood to look him in the eye.

"I'm not up to anything, I just wanted to ask her a few questions, in case she wasn't what she claimed to be." Alec told her as he lent against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

"And you found out what?" Max doubted that there was anything to worry about with Shara.

"Well she's not a real doctor." Alex said smugly.

"Yes she is." Max argued back, Logan had told her about Shara last night when Max had stopped by before going home. What Alec had said to her before he left had gotten to her and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't right.

"She doesn't have a medical licence." Alec still had that smug expression on his face.

"She had one once, but they took it away from her." Max told him, not really sure if Shara would want Alec to know everything.

"And why would they do that?" Alec asked her, it was then that Max realised that he had tricked her into giving him more information, not that this sort of information was a secret but still it wasn't her story to tell.

"It's complicated." Max knew that he would press her, and she had no real reason not to tell him.

"What happened?" Joshua asked, Max turned to look at him.

"I don't think I should talk about it." She told him honestly.

"Come now Max, Joshua has a right to know, after all he has to trust his health to her." Alec added behind her. 'Dammit he's right' she thought to herself, she hated it when that happened.

"Did you ever hear about a serious virus situation in Las Angeles about 3 years ago?" Joshua shook his head, of course he wouldn't have.

"It was serious enough, killed a couple of hundred people as I recall." Alec told him.

"Well anyway, Shara was a doctor working for a medical company at the time; she discovered that the virus was engineered and that they had infected people on purpose to make a profit when they came out with the cure. She testified against them and the company was closed down and most of the people in involved were sent to prison. Some of these people had a lot of friends in high places, anyway they took her licence and various things as pay back." When Max was finished she returned to where she had been sitting with Joshua.

"And let me guess, she did this with the help of 'Eyes Only'?" Alec always had a slightly mocking tone whenever he talked about 'Eyes Only'

"The only reason she's still alive is because Logan protected her before the trial, that's how he knows her."

"And that's your reason for trusting her?" Alec asked her, Max glared up at him.

"I just trust her ok; I don't think she'd do anything to endanger Joshua or us. Why _don't_ you trust her?" Max couldn't understand why he was suddenly so suspicious of her.

"Because I think she's hiding something." Alec said simply. Max rolled her eyes at him.

"Whatever." He would probably never see the woman again so what difference did it make to him.

"Well I'm outta here. See ya Joshua, later Max." And with that abrupt exit, Alec was gone and Max didn't miss his company one bit.


End file.
